Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) is incensed that people are cracking wise about Trump's decree that the Gulf of Mexico will be henceforth known as the Gulf of America. During a Tuesday House Natural Resources Committee hearing, she said the renaming should not stop at the water's edge and could be coming to the nation's capital.
"I would caution my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to refrain from making jokes about the Gulf of America because next up may be the District of America that we are working on."
Listening to this freeform orator, one gets the impression she speaks English as a second language without having a first.
More importantly, inquiring minds want to know her objection to the District of Columbia. As the context makes obvious, there can only be one answer. She is on a crusade to eliminate all non-US references in the names of communities, geographical features, and territorial waters comprising the United States. First, Mexico got a stick in the eye. Now, Colombia is getting the same treatment.
Except the averagely intelligent person will point out that Columbia is the long-time female symbol of the United States whose name was inspired by the anglicized name Christopher Columbus — and has nothing to do with Colombia, a South American country named after the explorer's birth name, Cristoforo Colombo.
If Lauren Boebert had stayed awake in history class, she would know the District of Columbia was so named by a 1791 commission established by President George Washington to identify the federal district established under The Residence Act (1790).
Instead, the sleepy Boebert appears to be suggesting that the Founders were honoring a South American nation. Which is rendered further absurd when you consider that the a South American country did not get its current name until 1863 — 72 years after DC got its.
Why stop there, Lauren? The mentally dented Representative should also know that her current home state, Colorado, was named after the Spanish for "colored red" or "ruddy." Her birth state, Florida, was named by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León "Pascua Florida" or "Feast of Flowers" in honor of Spain's Easter celebration. The town of her birth, Altamonte Springs, comes from the Spanish for high mountain (Were they stoned? There are no high mountains in Florida)
Even the United States of America got its name from Amerigo Vespucci, another swarthy foreigner who never set foot on the mainland that became the US. Change it!
What will these people take on next? How about the fact that tequila has replaced vodka as the number one spirit in the US, and salsa has overtaken ketchup as the most used condiment?
Viva Los Estados Unidos (EE.UU.)
